Tosham by-poll pushed solely in order to allow Haryana CM Bansi Lal to continue in office

Tosham by-poll pushed solely in order to allow Haryana CM Bansi Lal to continue in office

When the Election Commission decided four months ago to hold by-election to the Tosham Assembly seat in Haryana, but not to two other seats that were also vacant then, its reputation for independent functioning took a bit of a beating.

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.Prabhu Chawla

February 28, 1987

ISSUE DATE: February 28, 1987

UPDATED: January 14, 2014 17:59 IST

Peri Shastri: buckling under

When the Election Commission decided four months ago to hold a by-election to the Tosham Assembly seat in Haryana, but not to two other seats that were also vacant then, its reputation for independent functioning took a bit of a beating. The Tosham by-election was pushed through solely in order to allow Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal to continue in office, while the other by-elections were postponed on the ground that the general assembly poll was due shortly.

But last fortnight, when the commission announced the dates for the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir. Haryana was excluded from the timetable. Evidently, the commission had once again buckled under pressure from the ruling Congress(I), which seems anxious to avoid a battle at the hustings in a sensitive, Hindu-majority state bordering Punjab. The Centre, in fact, would have liked to postpone the elections in Kerala as well, but the commission stood its ground - partly because the Left Front Government in West Bengal was insisting on an early election and partly because constitutional requirements made an early poll in Jammu & Kashmir unavoidable.

Chief Election Commissioner R.V.S. Peri Shastri announced the March 23 election for 511 seats in three state assemblies after a meeting of the chief electoral officers of the concerned states. Barring Haryana's officials, who were obviously acting on specific briefs from their government, everyone present wanted early elections. And the commission, instead of directing the state Government to hold the elections simultaneously, de-linked Haryana from the rest. Said Peri Shastri in defence of the commission's decision: "Non-completion of revision of the electoral rolls was the main reason for Haryana being de-linked from the others."

Inevitably, there was scepticism and strong protest from the opposition parties, which accused the commission of playing a partisan role in scheduling the elections. Haryana Lok Dal leader Devi Lal despatched an angry protest letter to President Zail Singh, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded Peri Shastri's removal. Charged the BJP's Atal Behari Vajpayee: "Peri Shastri has succumbed to Congress(I) pressure. If the rolls have not been revised it is a major lapse on the part of the commission, under whose direct supervision the state election officials work." Added Devi Lal: "The commission is becoming yet another department of the ruling party at the Centre. But the Congress(I) is not the only party involved in the elections."

While agreeing to the Haryana Government's request on the polling date, however, the commission did not give in to the West Bengal Government's plea for elections by February 22. In fact, the state Government had completed its job of revising the electoral rolls up to January f 987. In the case of Kerala too, the rolls were revised within the time frame given earlier. Asked BJP President L.K. Advani: "If other states could do the job, why not Haryana? It is clear that the commission was a party to the delay."

The commission argues that over 89,000 objections were filed against the draft electoral rolls. According to the original schedule, these were to have been disposed of by mid-January and the voters' list was to be published by January 31. But over 60,000 objections were filed in the one week before the last date. While Lok Dal activists charge that all these objections were from the Congress(I), the state's election officials were guilty of not deputing additional staff to dispose of the objections in time and instead requested the postponement of the elections. The Commission meekly went along with this plea.

Ironically, the Congress(I) has always been in favour of separate elections for state assemblies so that it can force the Opposition to exhaust its manpower and money-power. Earlier this year, for instance, the commission decided to hold elections in Mizoram, which could logically have been held simultaneously with the polls in the other states. And co-incidentally, the Congress(I) was in favour of holding the Mizoram poll early because it was sure of a victory and perhaps wanted a favourable atmosphere to build up in the other states.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reviewed his party's poll prospects soon after his Andamans holiday in December. While Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran and Haryana's Bansi Lal were opposed to any preponing, Jammu & Kashmir's Farooq Abdullah insisted on elections before March 31 because the state Government would not be able to spend a paisa after the close of the financial year without the approval of the Assembly or Parliament.

Around the same time, Rajiv was also advised that his party's image had nosedived over the last few weeks and that it would be risky to take the electoral plunge immediately. But the Election Commission stood its ground and made it clear that it would not be possible for it to postpone the West Bengal elections. As a compromise, it agreed to give more time for Haryana to get ready. Explained a senior commission official: "If a state government is determined not to hold an election, there is nothing in the book we can do about it."

But that is not strictly true. Under Section 15 of the Representation of People's Act, the commission is within its power to order elections if the term of the Assembly is ending in six months. The term of the West Bengal Assembly ends on June 13, and that of Kerala and Haryana on June 23. The logical thing to do would have been to club all the elections together. By not doing so, the commission has once again raised questions about how independently it functions vis-a-vis the ruling party.

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